AT least 350 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were repatriated from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, majority of them distressed domestic workers, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.
“Unfortunately, some of our OFWs have been greatly impacted by the pandemic and we hope that our repatriation efforts would bring them comfort as they will soon join their families and loved ones,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, referring to the 354 OFWs who arrived home aboard a chartered Philippine Airlines flight.
In a two-page memorandum sent to Bello, Labor Attaché to Riyadh Nasser Mustafa said the OFWs left the King Khalid International Airport at 9:05 p.m. on Wednesday night (Riyadh time).
“Majority of the passengers are distressed male and female domestic workers from Bahay Kalinga in Riyadh, and from the temporary shelters maintained by POLO in the Eastern Region,” said Mustafa.
He said among those who arrived were 12 workers from Jussur Emdad, who were featured in a viral video allegedly selling their blood. Three of the workers shown in another viral video, scavenging for food, were also on the flight.
Also repatriated were 45 workers of Arkad Company who have a pending case against their employer that is taking too long to be resolved, said Mustafa.
He said six OFWs from Abdullah Aldossary, three from Azmeel Contracting Company, and five from Rakan Trading, also joined the flight.
Eight workers from Freyssinet, five from Jussur Emdad, and a few other workers from Samama Company and Rent Human Resources, and other walk-in clients whose exit visas were facilitated by POLO were also in the same flight.
Mustafa requested that all the necessary help be provided to the arriving OFWs by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
